Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham traded to Nats
by craig on Nov 10, 2008 10:59 PM EST
in News and Rumors
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PrintReports are that Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham have been traded to the Nationals.
The agent for starting pitcher Scott Olsen and outfielderJosh Willingham said Monday they are being traded from the Florida Marlins to the Washington Nationals. Agent Matt Sosnick said a news conference in the Washington area was being planned for Tuesday.
What the Marlins will get in return is a bit iffy.
The Nats traded away second baseman Emilio Bonifacio, who hit .243 in 49 games last season, and two minors leaguers in pitcher P.J. Dean and shortstop Jake Smolinski, sources told ESPN's Peter Gammons.
There are other reports that say it was a 2 for 2 deal with Smolinski's name being omitted.
At this point, neither side is talking.
We have nothing to say,” Larry Beinfest, the Marlins’ president of baseball operations,...
“If that changes, I’ll let you know. We’re not planning on doing anything tonight.”
---
Beinfest said he was aware of the reports of the trade, but declined any further comment.
Nationals general manager Jim Bowden and spokesmen for Florida and Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
And if the above wasn't bad enough, and it sucks, a report speculates on where Bonifacio will fit into the Marlins plans.
Bonaficio is a career .240 hitter, who was traded to Washington for Jon Rauch by Arizona last season. His quickness fills Florida's need to improve its right-side defense.
If this is accurate, Uggla will soon be gone also.
If the players from the Nationals are correct, this is an absolutely HORRIBLE trade!
When you think Bonifacio, think Andino with less pop. The Marlins have a ton of young pitchers who are better and have more of an upside than Dean. All he will be good for is filling out some minor league roster somewhere so the real prospects will have enough teammates to field a team. Smolinski may have a future in baseball but the guy is only 19 years-old so who knows if he will pan out. Oh, by the way, I'm showing Smolinski to be a second baseman, not that it matters.
Unless some names like Zimmerman or Milledge start showing up in the deal, this is one sickening trade and I refuse to believe this is all the Marlins could get for Olsen and Willingham. Then there is the part about trading them within the division. All Beinfest and company succeeded in doing was to make the Nationals better and the Marlins worse.
Yes, yes, I know we have some players in the organization who can, in some manner, take over for Olsen and Willingham. But that is not the point. The point is: we just gave away two major league players for next to nothing.
What are we going to get for Uggla? Some cute sparkly stickers?
This blows.
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Mike Berardino:
http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_baseball_marlins/2008/11/olsen-hammer-go.html?cid=138625096#comment-138625096
Keith Law at ESPN.com:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3694981&name=law_keith
money quote (literally):
The Marlins move two players in a salary dump, trading them to the Nationals, who are in a perfect position to roll the dice on left-hander Scott Olsen while receiving a big upgrade offensively from outfielder Josh Willingham. It’s an easy win for Washington, but Florida’s only major gain may be salary relief.
Simply embarrassing.
Even if one believes there wasn't a market for Olsen...
…he’s more valuable as a starter here, considering Nolasco’s innings bump + Sanchez still looking iffy + wild card Miller than this poo poo platter.
What...?
Un-fuckin-believable.
Our team is a cheap fuckin laughing stock of a $50 Fullujahian whores salary dump… Again!
Fuckin Shit!
Damn You All To Hell!!……
I really just can't figure out this trade.
It doesn’t seem like we’re getting much value for now. I thought management was going to make moves for this year and not for the future?
to reitterate
Simply embarrassing. I alluded to a firesale in the chum bucket yesterday, but we usually get good young players in return when we do that. This is just embarrassing. All the talk of raising payroll, of playing for next year… not so much. Maybe they know something about the stadium deal that we don’t.
I was looking at 2009 Marlins calendar at the bookstore other day. With 3 of the months traded already, the calendar could be completely out of date before 2009 gets here.
you never know...
lets wait until the season starts. everyone talks a lot during the off season but you never know what will happen. I dont think Beinfest has gone crazy just yet. he’s made plenty of great deals in the past, there could be something else up his sleeve that we dont know about
I'm leaning this way...
…I will agree that on the face of it this “trade” is stupid (I say “trade” in quotes because we really didn’t get anything in return). However, even though I love Hammer, he has problems staying healthy, and Scotty was 10-15 with a 5.81 ERA and 8-11 with a 4.20 ERA the past two seasons… maybe management/coaching staff knows something we don’t know…
I’m holding my expletives until I see how the rest of the off-season moves shake out… if nothing happens to redeem this trade, I’m hanging my a$$ over the rail on opening day and taking a crap in RF.
I just find it hard to believe
This trade makes no sense from any perspective… none at all. Sure, the Nats win, but they didn’t need what they got – they certainly have bigger holes.
I am a little leery that no team has commented on it yet come noon the day after. One of the teams should have something. The Marlins have no business trading for a 2B with Amezaga, Coghlan and Andino in the wings. They have no business trading for SS who just had surgery on his ACL and MCL that won’t play for 8 months and had questionable defense to begin with. They had no business trading for a pitching prospect ranked 30th in the Nats system… that’s a fresh out of H.S.-esque rank.
I know Larry does a good job normally… maybe he has gone crazy though. There has to be another team or another player involved on their part. Maybe Larry is trying to for Loria to fire him so he can work his magic for a team that cares about winning and fans. This just makes no sense…
One more thing...
the only way I forgive this trade, if it is real and not a November fools trick, is if they spend the $7+MM on a stellar Free Agent or spin the prospects they received to another team for stellar players we actually that can fulfill some need on this team.
ha ha....
if they spend the $7+MM on a stellar Free Agent or spin the prospects they received to another team for stellar players
Thanks for the moment of levity.
wow, it just became official...
Frisaro didn’t mention that Beinfest had also included his sanity in the Jacobs trade and his loyalty in this one…
Grain of salt
I am actually not that shocked by this trade, and not really that saddened. we knew players were going to be traded. and I truly dont believe Olsen nor hammer were a big part of anything we accomplished this season. Olsen ended up having a losing record while the rest of the pitchers did fairly well. Hammer simply cannot stay healthy. olsen was only going to be our 3rd next year in all likelihood. We need to clear room for the younger guys in the minors because we have a lot and a good deal of them will be chomping at the bit for playing time come spring. Simply stated our outfield is packed with talent. i hope Hermida is next so we can put someone out there with a future.
Now, what we got in compensation doesnt seem to make a lot of sense. However, I have faith in Beinfest. He has not steered us wrong. Olsen clearly is not the same as Beckett when we got rid of him. Hammer and Jacobs were two of the generic power/strikeout guys that held our team back this year. we need to hit for average. Whether any of these new guys or young guys coming up can do that is beyond my comprehension.
But I beg of you all (coming from a michigan fan), have patience. At least we have hanley for the moment (and nolasco, JJ, volstad, miller, anibal, etc.).
We all know Olsen was gone,
and we suspected Hammer may be, as well. Marlins fans have grown a pretty thick shell when it comes to player-dumps. But the return on this deal is freaking awful. It’s not the players leaving that’s driving us all nuts here, but the complete lack of value we got back.
We got back two unremarkable low-level prospects and a slap-hitting second-baseman who seems to be a less effective version of Amezega or Andino. As much as trading players over the years as hurt, we could always trust that we’d get back something pretty good in return, even if the return was not immediately apparent.
The difference is, the write-ups of those trades would always mention the quality of the prospects we got in return. Beinfest always knew how to extract a pretty penny in return.
But with this one, no one’s even pretending. I’ve read three or four articles on the trade already, and not a single one even pretends that we got value (except to suggest that the new guy will “help with our infield defense”). This is just a piss-poor, shitty trade, and I have extreme doubts that we couldn’t have gotten anything back for a dependable, lefty third or fourth starter. And that’s not even counting Willingham, who despite the back issue last year is a pretty decent throw-in.
but.
This wasn’t supposed to be a rebuilding year was it? After hanging in the race so long last year, a lot of us were hoping for addition not subtraction.
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